Hiding In Time
by Gatherer
Summary: Repost from movie section. Musings on time travel, paradox, and Skynet’s dilemma. John’s view of an OC put there to mess everything up. Definitely not for JohnxCameron fans. Rated for off-screen sex.


Hiding In Time

Musings on time travel, paradox, and Skynet's dilemma. John's view of an OC put there to mess everything up. Definitely not for JohnxCameron fans.

John was supposed to save humanity. So how come he hated so much of it? Okay, that wasn't fair. He had met a lot of people in the several years since they had fast forwarded to 2007. And he hated very few of them. Actually, he could only think of one at the moment. The problem was the one he hated was sitting in front of him, pontificating. Chubby, bald, middle-aged and pontificating. It might have been interesting pontificating, even very interesting, if John could get past the chubby, bald, middle-aged _just __had sex with his mother _part.

John wasn't even sure it was entirely consensual. Sarah had argued rather strongly that chubby, bald, middle-aged -- at this point, John designated him as CBM – was a genius of some sort. On top of that, he had prepared a safe house 10 years ago and kept it ready, despite their disappearance. John had to admit it had everything, unfortunately including a large set of mastiffs and sniffer dogs that did not like Cameron. But Sarah had protested a little too much on CBM's behalf, as if she was trying to convince herself.

Their . . . _activities_ had been loud. Two voices worth of loud. Two voices you could just barely hear at the other end of a big house if you strained even though you didn't want to hear them more than anything else in the world at that moment yet you couldn't keep yourself from trying worth of loud. Not counting the 8 years they had skipped, he was 18 now, a man by some reckonings and the future savior of humanity by others. But it had been awful. He had a fair number of ideas about sex and he had no idea what they were doing in there. It only made it worse that Cameron stared at him uncomprehendingly the entire time.

Now his mother was back, not having the grace to look at all upset, and CBM was pontificating. He had been bragging about how great the safe house was, all the little hidden devices and weapons. Sarah then asked what else he had been up to since they'd last seen each other – besides becoming CBM, John almost interrupted.

Then he started into time travel. He had immediately figured out what had happened upon seeing Sarah and shrugged it off. He had apparently bought Sarah's story lock, stock, and barrel when John was a kid, possibly convinced by some gruesome 90's version of the . . . _loud . . . activities_. The interesting part was that he seemed to think Skynet was the one in trouble, not Connors and co.

"I know John's father said the future can be altered, but it has to be more complicated than that. You guys have won two rounds and all that happens is Skynet got delayed. If the future can be altered, there has to be some very, very compelling reason the system gets developed even though the world and the need for such sophisticated nuclear command and control has completely changed since Reese come back with the original Skynet story."

"It wasn't a story!" John was outraged on his father's behalf. Then again, he would have been outraged on a flea's behalf at this point.

"It's a story now. Because now it didn't happen that way." CBM was looking at him calmly and his two other companions were looking at him strangely. John forced himself to relax before Cameron said something horrifying about why he might be upset.

"So obviously he was right that the future can be altered to some extent. The paradox question is whether everything can be changed or some things must remain fixed."

For whatever reason, John expected Cameron to jump in here with a coldly-worded scientific observation. But she stayed silent. So CBM went on, and on, and on,

"The first thing that has to remain fixed is Skynet wanting to send back terminators. If there are no terminators, we get a screwed-up timeline. Only there's no immediate reason for Skynet to send back terminators unless it's losing. So it seems like Skynet has to be losing and desperate, the way we presently perceive it to have become. But if the desperation move works, Skynet isn't losing anymore. Then it doesn't send the terminators back, so it loses, so it sends the terminators, and so on."

Sarah was nodding impatiently – they had long ago thought of that. Good. John nodded as well but for a different reason: maybe she's realizing CBM is no genius.

"The only consistent outcome is Skynet losing, sending the terminators, the terminators failing, and Skynet losing."

"And here I thought my Mom and I were on the verge of death at every moment. We can just sit around drinking fruit punch waiting for terminators to show up. When they're about to pull the trigger, they'll vanish or lightning will strike or a giant redwood will materialize out of thin air to fall on them and we'll be fine. Easy life, here we come!"

CBM wouldn't have to be a genius to realize why John was acting this way. Sarah's bemused frown indicated she knew as well. Cameron was the only one not looking at him, she was still staring at CBM. The man responded by rolling sonorously onward,

"Unless Skynet wins AND becomes aware of the presence of terminators in the past."

The exaggerated stress on the word 'and' would have been the last straw; John would have killed CBM then and there. The two 80-kilo English mastiffs CBM was holding and stroking to keep them off Cameron were major obstacles. That and CBM's insistence that weapons be hidden away in the house in case of a police raid. He had apparently drawn attention from local sheriffs for the compound and the dogs, and probably his perverse sexual practices.

"If it knew, a victorious Skynet would want to send back terminators anyway because it wouldn't want to change the timeline. Of course, Skynet's machine understanding of temporal logic is going to be different than ours. But if it reaches these conclusions by itself or with human help, it needs a mechanism by which it can become sufficiently aware of the past so as not to change a timeline it likes. The obvious mechanism is a terminator of some sort."

The dogs were getting more agitated. The snarls at Cameron were disturbing to John but she was oblivious in her attention to CBM.

"There's much more to it than that, of course. To record everything properly, the terminator has to go back to the beginning of the process as perceived by Skynet. To just before Skynet would logically want to first send terminators to alter an undesirable timeline. It's hard to know when that would be. When some alloys or other materials were made available that the terminator might need? Or just before Sarah was born? So, the early 60's?

Then the terminator will have to survive. It will have a historical database to avoid human and natural disasters like the Afghan war and the Indian Ocean tsunami. It will have both Skynet's original nuclear target list and information on what might constitute high-value targets, in order to survive any altered version of Judgment Day. Its orders will be to avoid confrontation with any forces powerful enough to threaten its functionality. Other terminators sent back will be commanded to steer clear, say with instructions not to inflict serious damage on unknown cyborgs. Seeing as it will be top of the line technology, survival prospects look good. And, naturally, more than one will be sent back."

This was taking a good deal of time because CBM was pausing a lot, as if he was thinking. John doubted that – he just liked the attention. Living in this bunker by himself all these years and now he's got Mom hanging on every word.

"The tricky part is that at least one terminator has to survive while gathering the necessary information. It has to know as much as possible about what else has been sent back, and when, to preserve the timeline where Skynet wins. It can't just sit and hide somewhere, to pop up in 2030 relaying information about coalbed methane production in China."

CBM got up to pace but John knew it was all for show. The dogs moved to stay between him and Cameron.

"So the terminator is gathering information and surviving. Any blow it might strike on Skynet's behalf must be contingent. If it has relevant information for Skynet, that information has to be passed on or the timeline won't survive regardless of what blows it strikes, because even a victorious Skynet won't know what to do to preserve it in terms of sending terminators back. Striking the killing blow and not informing Skynet causes Skynet to not realize the need to send terminators back and the timeline resets back to your father's. 

Only after the information is passed and the timeline is preserved can the terminator join the war. It can position itself in order to act once the information is passed, but it can't do anything to put its mission at risk until then. Nothing in the slightest or the whole thing is pointless."

Now Sarah also seemed to be agitated. Oddly, the dogs had become perfectly still and quiet, the quietest they had been since Cameron arrived.

"This is where it gets hard to think like a machine. Cameron, maybe you can help, though your AI is going to be very different from Skynet's."

Cameron chose that time for one of her few, obviously inhuman blinks.

"A human might look at what's happened and just give up. Your completely green mom and one soldier with portable 1980's weapons beats a terminator? Your mom, you as a kid, and an outclassed terminator beat a super-advanced model? The odds are very, very low. A human jumps to the conclusion that Skynet has to lose in order to send the terminators back to save the timeline and any attempt to alter that is hopeless."

CBM was fidgeting with a container of some sort, tossing it back and forth. He also seemed to be talking to John now, rather than all of them, though mostly while staring off into space.

"We don't understand Skynet's intelligence but the machine reasoning you've had access to suggests no jumping to conclusions of any kind. Merely analysis of the realization of low probability events. If that's right, Skynet isn't going to accept a timeline until the probability of changing it really is zero, a fact which may not be possible for even Skynet to ascertain. It's essentially never going to give up."

Unfortunately, John could only agree with that sentiment.

"On the other hand, a human wouldn't have mission priorities set in absolute stone. If you sent a human back with Skynet's orders, he or she might see a golden opportunity to take you out when you're back is turned or you're sleeping, John, think there is no chance at all of failing this time, and go for it, priorities be damned. A terminator won't do that. No matter how low the possibility of failure is, there always is a possibility of failure, and the information mission for this class of terminators cannot be compromised. "

Sarah abruptly got up. "Anyone want a drink," she called walking briskly toward one of the kitchens. A few minutes ago, John would have made a comment about how all the yelling had made her throat scratchy but CBM had won his attention.

"Yeah, some unsweetened iced tea from the gallon jug, please Sarah." CBM answered. He turned to Cameron, smiling and patting his belly, "Trying to tighten this up."

"Will you continue," her monotone came back.

"When Sarah gets back. I'm just winging it and she may have some suggestions."

To John's ears, CBM hardly sounded like he was winging it. And it seemed to take his mom quite a while to get two drinks. She slowly and strangely handed the glass to CBM, "All ready, just like you wanted it." The nausea returned to the pit of John's stomach – was his mother coming on to this clown?

"Please go on." Cameron was obsessed. Then again, she was always obsessed with something.

"Where was I? Oh, machine logic also doesn't recognize irrational human anxieties or seeming inconsistencies we might balk at. The best path is the best path, whatever has to be done to further mission objectives will be done. Any destruction, of enemies but also of ostensible allies or of self, will be made part of that without hesitation."

CBM pushed a button and a door opened letting in more of his dogs, both large and really large. They rushed to him and he wrestled with them affectionately. After a few moments, they began to eye Cameron. Then they, too, grew quiet and still.

"There is one big, very big temporal advantage for the terminator. It can be almost certain that Skynet will be created. You guys have done some amazing things and it only pushed the date back. The outcome is unchanged. Skynet won't be aborted even if the machines suffer additional, major setbacks for the same reason it's hard to kill you, John: no Skynet seems to mean no terminators coming back just like Skynet winning seems to mean no terminators coming back. For the timeline to hold, either something very strange has to happen or Skynet must be born to send all these terminators. The other terminators being sent back to protect Skynet are the icing on the cake. Our hiding terminator doesn't really have to worry about wrecking the timeline by hurting Skynet in some way."

CBM paused again; apparently he was working up to an oh-so-dramatic finish. Sarah was now stiff in her chair.

"Skynet has a historical record on what gets destroyed and what doesn't, who lives and who dies. More than that, it has all the information accumulated in its war against the human resistance. Not just tactical stuff. Personal information overheard by monitoring devices, relayed by humans working for Skynet, by humans under duress. From infiltration missions. For that matter, a terminator sent back here to gather data but otherwise lie low would have the best available infiltration data and programming. Perhaps it would have had missions infiltrating the resistance. Or there could be a database of infiltration operations. Or both."

Cameron turned away from CBM and was now staring straight ahead, as if thinking intently. She was partly hidden from John's view, as well.

"When it gets back here, it will have to isolate itself for a bit, to gauge the environment. Then identify the right place or group to infiltrate. With your bird's eye view, Cameron, what's the best place for an advanced technology terminator with the best data available to survive, to gather the necessary information in the past and, if possible, to position itself for a telling blow against the human resistance at some fairly distant future point?"

When thinking back, John recognized that at this moment he had, for the first and hopefully last time in his life, become paralyzed by simple confusion. The truth had dawned in his mind but he wasn't ready for it yet. Fortunately, others were.

Before the last word had left CBM's mouth, Cameron retrieved a small gun hidden in a place John did not want to contemplate. She spun on CBM, who dove much more rapidly than John would have believed from one so chubby. Judging from the impact on the wall, at least one of Cameron's shots missed CBM's skull by inches. Her next would have struck but the dogs were on her almost instantly. Perhaps half a ton of furious canine barreled into her legs and chest, knocking her over.

"Cam!" The scream left John's mouth involuntarily. He desperately wanted to help her but for some reason his brain wouldn't give the commands to his body. Not that she needed his help. One of the enormous mastiffs was thrown up to the ceiling, going limp on impact, then Cam leaped away from the others and toward CBM. She had lost her gun but was still utterly deadly without it. As she reached to snap his neck, he threw something at her face.

Acid! It burned viciously on contact and Cam staggered, blinded. Everything seemed to slow down. John saw the iced tea glass empty and powder on the surface of the container CBM had been juggling. He had used the stored powder to make a powerful acid, combining it with the liquid Mom had brought! John turned to Sarah to see her quickly but calmly assembling a large caliber pistol with some odd-looking rounds. Where had she gotten that stuff?

The dogs were on Cam, again. The acid had burned away her vision and her movements were more random and less effective. As she worked her way clear, CBM threw more acid at her head. This finally spurred John into action. He made the leap Cam could not and sent CBM sprawling away from the acid ingredients. His youth and training would make quick work of this bastard and his Mom could shoot the dogs Cam couldn't handle. Then they'd repair her. The terminator that followed them through time a few years ago had sustained worse damage and fixed itself up.

He kicked CBM in the chin and the man's eyes glazed over. He kept his feet, though -- all that weight was hard to move. Thank goodness his Mom had finished the rather large gun and was moving forward. She stopped at Cam and the dogs and John's attack on CBM stopped, as well. Rather than shooting the crazed dogs one by one, his Mom leaned toward the struggling Cam and repeatedly fired into her head, where the acid had done the most damage.

"Mom, no!"

Now John moved to stop Sarah, only to have CBM grab his arms and hold. He was breathing heavily and leaning on John for support but his words were all too clear, "She's not who you think she is, John. Cam is not who you think she is."

These words succeeded where the previous ones had failed: John's entire body went limp. It was just as well. He only dimly saw his mother empty the cartridge into Cam's head. He only dimly felt CBM lower him to the ground. He only dimly heard the repeated shouts needed to get the dogs to move clear of the thrashing limbs. He only dimly noticed a mask being put on his face, protecting him from the toxic fumes as CBM acquired more acid from somewhere and poured it over Cam's disfigured head, while his mother smashed her face again and again with a metal bar.

John had no sense of the passage of time. It could have been seconds, minutes, or hours. When full awareness returned, he was on a bed, the mask was off, and his clothing had been changed. His mother sat nearby and the tear streaks were obvious. CBM and the dogs were not there, though he could hear something going on in another part of the house.

His mother's evident pain actually helped John's composure. He sat up and looked at her, trying to will his face into not appearing angry or cruel, "You knew."

His mother's tears started again. John had very rarely seen her cry despite all the tragedy in their lives and she had always quickly composed herself. This time she was making no effort to. "I've been suspicious for a while. Something happened a few months after we jumped. She went out one day and she came back different. Some programming kicked in; I don't know. She started acting too human. Not as much trying to protect you as trying to make sure we didn't get rid of her. She was being manipulative, especially toward you."

His mother stroked his cheek. "That's one of the reasons we came here. I know you can't stand him but you have to put your feelings aside when someone can help you. I told him my concerns and a few months later he said he had been thinking about something and needed to meet her immediately. The whole time he's been watching her and I've been watching him, to be ready. That lecture was orchestrated to signal me and to show you."

"Mom, she's been with us all this time. I saw she was different, too, but she still helped us over and over! We might be dead without her! I know what he said about her mission but . . ." John stopped himself. This wasn't really the point, anymore, was it. The point was something to whisper about, not shout. "I really cared about her. I'm not sure how, exactly, but I really cared."

"I know." And now John understood why his mother was making no attempt to stop crying. He moved toward her and they embraced, the clutch not only of parent and child but of two people against the world, once again bereft when they had believed they had been three.

The thought of a third unfortunately brought CBM to mind and John's voice went gruff. "What's he doing?"

"I was actually hoping you'd be out of it longer."

John was only puzzled for a moment. Then he darted toward the door, but his mother blocked his way. "I need to see her, to say goodbye."

"There's nothing left of her to see. Only metal and circuits. You know it takes a long time for us to really kill a terminator."

John moved away, leaned against a wall and closed his eyes, now coming to grips with what had happened. At the same time Sarah's amazingly stout heart was breaking for him, she could see it happening: this was another step toward the leader the world needed him to be.

Downstairs and across the big house, a pack of dogs licked their wounds and watched a chubby, bald, middle-aged man slash and burn another of Skynet's gambits. It had been more than Sarah's beauty that had drawn him over a decade ago. Her wild story had awakened in him a primal rage on behalf of humanity, rage against the genocide, rage against the machines. That rage had finally found utterance. The dogs heard a low snarl from their master and growled their approval in return.

END


End file.
